ANNIVERSARY 

OF THE 

CITY OF NEW YORK 
1665-1915 





Book l5 . 



REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN 

ON THE 

TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH 
ANNIVERSARY 

OF THE INSTALLATION OF THE 

FIRST MAYOR AND BOARD OF ALDERMEN 

OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK 

JUNE 24, 1665 
AND THE 

ADOPTION OF THE OFFICIAL 
CITY FLAG 

JUNE 24, 1915 




PRINTED PURSUANT TO A RESOLUTION 
OF THE BOARD ADOPTED JULY 6, 1915 






D. Of D/ 

MAR a tew 



TRANSCRIPT FROM THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF 
THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN HELD ON THE SIXTH DAY 

OF JULY, 1915. 

The Special Committee appointed on the 250th anniversary of the 
installation of the first Mayor and Board of Aldermen of The City of 
New York, on June 24, 1665, and the adoption of the official City Flag 
on June 24, 1915 (Minutes of June 22, 1915, page 899), respectfully 

REPORTS 

That, it has complied in every essential with the purposes of the 
event; that it was one of extreme civic and historic interest, and the 
proceedings should be forever preserved. To this end there is pre- 
sented herewith a correct transcript of the proceedings, with a resolu- 
tion providing for the publication in pamphlet form of one thousand 
copies, which resolution is recommended for adoption. 

Resolved, That the Citj^ Clerk be and he is hereby authorized and 
requested to make requi^tjon jn the. Board of City Record for the 
publication in pamphlet form, bound partly in manila and cloth form, 
of one thousand copies of the proceedings held in connection with the 
commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the installation of the first 
Mayor and Board of Aldermen of The City of New York, and the 
adoption of the official City Flag, which took place in the City Hall on 
June 24, 1915, such copies to be held for distribution within the 
discretion of the City Clerk. 

EDWARD H. TAYLOR, 
JOHN T. EAGAN, 
FREDERICK TRAU, 
C. AUGUSTUS POST, 
ROBERT L. MORAN, 

Special Committee. 










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PROCLAMATION OF THE MAYOR 

To the Citizens of The City of New Yorl(: 

An Ordinance having recently been enacted adopting for the first 
time an official City Flag, recalling in its colors and design the history 
of the City, it seems eminently fitting that due recognition should be 
given to this event. 

The flag will be raised with proper ceremonies on the City Hall 
and other municipal buildings at noon on the 24th day of June, that 
date having been selected as being the 250th anniversary of the 
installation of the present form of city government. It is strongly 
urged that owners of buildings throughout the City and masters of 
vessels in the harbor make arrangements to display the flag on the 
same day and at the same hour. 

As a symbol of our City, the flag represents New York in the past, 
in the present, and as we hope it will be in the future, a great cosmopol- 
itan city, the home of all nations, founded on hberty and law; beloved, 
guarded and honored by her people. 

JOHN PURROY MITCHEL, Mayor. 

Dated, New York, June 17, 1915. 



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THE CITY OF NEW YORK 

COMMEMORATION 

OF THE 

TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

OF THE INSTALLATION OF THE 

FIRST MAYOR AND BOARD OF ALDERMEN 

OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK 

ON JUNE 24, 1665 

AND THE ADOPTION OF THE OFFICLAL 

CITY FLAG 

ON JUNE 24, 1915 



ORDER OF THE DAY 

1665 
MAYOR 

THOMAS WILLETT 

BOARD OF ALDERMEN 

Thomas Delavall, Joannes van Brugh, Cornelius van Ruyven, John Laurence, 

Oloflf Stevenson van Cortlandt. 

1915 

MAYOR 

JOHN PURROY MITCHEL 



Bernard E. Donnelly 
Michael Stapleton 
John J. White 
WUliam H. Bums 
Joseph M. Harmon 
Frank J. Dotzler 
Frank L. Dowling 
Louis Jacobson 
John F. McCourt 
Frank Dostal, Jr. 
Louis Wendel, Jr. 

Anthony J. McNally 
Peter Schweikert 
James A. Milligan 

Michael J. Hogan 
Michael Carberry 
Frank Cunningham 
John S. Gaynor 
Edward H. Taylor 
John Diemer 
James J. Molen 
Francis P. Kermy 

Samuel J. Burden 
Albert C. Benninger 

William Fink 



BOARD OF ALDERMEN 

George McAneny, President. 

O. Grant Esterbrook, Vice-Chairman. 



Borough of Manhatlan 
William P. Kenneally 
John McCann 
William J. Lein 
William F. Quinn 
John T. Eagan 
Daniel M. Bedell 
James J. Nugent 
William D. Brush 
John J. Reardon 
Oscar Igstaedter 
Henry Ottes 

Borough of The Bronx 
Robert L. Moran 
James J. Ferguson 
Harry Robitzek 

Borough of Brooklyn 
Edward B. Valentine 
August Ferrend 
William W. Cohie 
Frederick H. Stevenson 
Jesse D. Moore 
Frank T. Dixon 
William P. McGarry 
Robert H. Bosse 

Borough of Queens 
Alexander Dujat 
Charles A. Post 

Borough of Richmond 
John J. O'Rourke 



John H. Boschen 
Frank Mullen 
Charles Delaney 
Henry H. Curran 
James F. Mullen 
Clarence Schmelzel 
Frederick Trau 
Lauren Carroll 
Hyman Pouker 
William Duggan 
William H. Chorosh 



Jacob Weil 
Frederick H. Wihnot 



Amon L. Squiers 
Jacob Bartscherer 
William H. Pendry 
Abraham M. Levy 
Edward Eichhom 
Chas. J. Moore 
Isadore M. Rosenblum 



John Kochendorfer 



Charles P. Cole 



Marcus M. Marks, President, Borough of Manhattan 

Lewis H. Pounds, President, Borough of Brookljm. 

Douglas Mathewson, President of the Borough of The Bronx. 

Maurice E. Connolly, President of the Borough of Queens. 

Charles J. McCormack, President of the Borough of Richmond. 

P. J. ScuUy, City Clerk. 

Frank J. Goodwin, Deputy City Clerk. 

S 



PROGRAMME MORNING 

IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF THE CITY 
Appropriate ceremonies, including the display of the Flag and addresses on its his- 
toric meaning as the emblem of the City. 

AT THE CITY HALL 

PRESENTATION OF AN OFFICIAL CITY FLAG BY THE CITY OF AMSTERDAM, 

HOLLAND. 

by 

HONORABLE A. VAN deSANDE BAKHUYZEN 

Consul-Generat of the Netherlands 

ACCEPTANCE OF THE FLAG 

by 

HONORABLE JOHN PURROY MITCHEL 

Mayor of The City of New York 

RAISING OF THE FLAG ON THE CITY HALL 

by 

MRS. MARIA DUANE BLEECKER COX 

Great-great-granddaughter of James Duane, Mayor of the City in 1784 

PRESENTATION OF THE MAYOR'S FLAG 
by the Saint Nicholas Society 
HONORABLE VERNON M. DAVIS 
President 

ACCEPTANCE BY THE MAYOR 



PROGRAMME^AFTERNOON 

ALDERMANIC CHAMBER, CITY HALL 

Address of Welcome 

by 

THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN 

Chairman of the Anniversary Committee 

Unveiling of the Memorial Tablet 

by 

FRANCIS DE NEUFVILLE SCHROEDER 

Ninth in descent from the first Mayor, Thomas Willett 

Acceptance of the Tablet 

by 

THE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK 

Address "New York Then and Now" 

by 

WILLIAM ROBERT SHEPHERD, Ph.D. 

Professor of History in Columbia University 

Address "The City and The Flag" 

by 

JOHN HUSTON FINLEY, LL.D. 

President of the University of the Stale of New York 

Address by 
THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 



RECEPTION TO HIS EXCELLENCY 
CHARLES S. WHITMAN 

GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 
IN THE GOVERNOR'S ROOM, CITY HALL 



ANNIVERSARY COMMITTEE 



George McAneny, 

Chairman 
Mrs. Robert Abbe 
John Quincy Adams 
Cyrus Adler 
Louis Annin Ames 
Frank L. Babbott 
Willard Bartlett 
Howard R. Bayne 
Daniel M. Bedell 
Gerard Beekman 
Timis G. Bergen 
Henry L. Bogert 
George C. Boldt 
Reginald Pelham Bolton 
John H. Boschen 
Robert H. Bosse 
Herbert L. Bridgman 
Elmer E. Brown 
Arnold W. Brunner 
William D. Brush 
George W. Burleigh 
Howard Russell Butler 
Nicholas Murray Butler 
Beverly Chew 
Joseph H. Choate 
Thomas W. Churchill 
Theodore W. Compton 
Maurice E. Connolly 
Robert Grier Cooke 
Mrs. Maria Duane Bleecker 

Cox 
Henry H. Curran 
Gherardi Davis 
Vernon M. Davis 
Robert W. de Forest 



Appointed by the Mayor 

Joseph L. Delafield 

John Diemer 

Frank L. Dowling 

William Duggan 

Edward Eichhom 

O. Grant Esterbrook 

John S. Gaynor 

Cass Gilbert 

Edward Hagaman Hall 

R. T. H. Halsey 

James Hamilton 

A. Augustus Healy 

Mrs. A. Barton Hepburn 

Charles G. Hine 

Oscar Igstaedter 

Henry P. Johnston 

William A. Johnston 

Francis C. Jones 

Robert D. Kohn 

George F. Kunz 

Henry M. Leipziger 

Goodhue Livingston 

Seth Low 

Charles J. McCormack 

St. Claii McKelway 

Mrs. James Allen Macdon- 

ald 
Marcus M. Marks 
Douglas Mathewson 
Richard W. Meade 
Sidney E. Mezes 
Adolph S. Ochs 
Victor Hugo Paltsits 
William H. Pendry 
John B. Pine 



Hyman Pouker 
Lewis H. Pounds 
Frederic B. Pratt 
Ralph E. Prime 
Ralph Pulitzer 
Leo L. Redding 
William C. Reick 
Ogden M. Reid 
Philip Rhinelander 
T. J. Oakley Rhinelander 
Herman Ridder 
Elihu Root 
Theodore Rousseau 
Henry W. Sackett 
Mrs. Russell Sage 
Arthur F. Schermerhom 
F. A. Schermerhom 
Miss Louisa Lee Schuyler 
Patrick J. Scully 
Frederick H. Stevenson 
Edward W. Stitt 
L N. Phelps Stokes 
Mrs. William C. Story 
Charles W. Stoughton 
Charles H. Strong 
Mrs. E. N. Townsend, Jr. 
Guy Van Amringe 
Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensse- 
laer 
Abram Wakeman 
Cabot Ward 
Harry W. Watrous 
Jacob A. Weil 
Alfred T. White 
William G. Willcox 



COMMITTEES 

Executive Committee 



George F. Kunz, Chairman 

John Quincy Adams 
Frank L. Babbott 
Reginald Pelham Bolton 
Henry H. Curran 
Gherardi Davis 



Richard W. Meade, Treasurer 



George W. Burleigh, Secretary 



Frank L. Dowling 
Edward Hagaman Hall 
Francis C. Jones 
Henry M. Leipziger 
Victor Hugo Paltsits 



John B. Pine 
Henry W. Sackett 
Edward W. Stitt 
Guy Van Amringe 
Alfred T. White 



Mrs. Moses Taylor Campbell 
Mrs. Robert W. de Forest 
Mrs. Edward C. Delafield 
Mrs. Richard Derby 
Mrs. George McAneny 
Mrs. John Purroy Mitchel 
Mrs. Howland Pell 
Mrs. R. Stujrvesant Pierrepont 



Reception Committee 

Mrs. Philip Rhinelander 

Mrs. Karrick Riggs 

Mrs. Russell Sage 

Mrs. J. Langdon Schroeder 

Miss Louisa Lee Schuyler 

Mrs. A. van de Sande Bakhuyzen 

Miss Anne Van Cortlandt 

Mrs. John D. Van Buren 



John Quincy Adams 
Leo Amstein 
John H. Boschen 
Robert H. Bosse 
Henry J. Case 



William F. Beekman 
Andrew A. Bibby 
Henry L. Bogert 
John E. de Ruyter 



Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer 

Marshals 
Bertram de N. Cruger, Chief Marshal 

Henry H. Curran Samuel L. Martin 

Frank L. Dowling Shepard Morgan 

John S. Gaynor Ira Patchin 

Louis Graves Thoedore Rousseau 

Joseph Haag Paul C. Wilson 



Special Aides to the Mayor 

Coleman E. Kissam 

R. Stuyvesant Pierrepont 

Philip Rhinelander 

T. J. Oakley Rhinelander 



Karrick Riggs 
Robert Van Cortlandt 
Alfred Wagstaff, Jr. 
Evert WendeU 



EVENTS OF THE DAY 
June 24, 1915 

The arrival of the date fixed for the adoption of the official City 
Flag was announced by the display of the flag on numerous buildings 
throughout the City, and the celebration of the day was begun in the 
public schools by appropriate ceremonies, including the display of the 
flag and addresses on its historic meaning as the emblem of the City. 

The City Hall was handsomely decorated for the occasion with 
national, state and city flags. 

PRESENTATION OF THE FLAG 

At a quarter before twelve o'clock the Consul General of the 
Netherlands, and the Vice Consul General, escorted by the Old Guard 
and representatives of the Citizens' Committee arrived at the City 
Hall, where Mayor Mitchel, accompanied by Governor Whitman, City 
officials and members of the Committee, was waiting on the portico 
to receive them. 

ADDRESS BY THE CONSUL-GENERAL OF THE 
NETHERLANDS 

Mr. Mayor: In the name of the Municipality of Amsterdam, I 
present your City with this flag, that it may fly gaily from the top of the 
City Hail as a symbol of the virtues which characterized the founders 
of this City, those who made her great and those in whose hands her 
future rests securely. 

Mr. Mayor, officials of the City government, and all those who 
do honour to this occasion by their presence : It is but natural that the 
City of Amsterdam takes more than the ordinary interest in the devel- 
opment and welfare of your City, which owes its very origin to the 
initiative of enterprising and fearless Amsterdam burghers, some 
three centuries ago, and it is glad that this opportunity should offer 
itself to give proof that feelings of the warmest sympathy fill the 
heart of the mother city for her offspring across the ocean. After 
your City had outgrown her nursing period and Nev/ Amsterdam had 
become of age, she did what many a daughter does, she was wooed 
away, changed her name and transferred her allegiance. The im- 
pressions of her early education, however, were lasting, and her 
character, once formed under the maternal eyes of the West India 
Company, remained so that even now we can here and there discern 
symptoms which prove her origin. 



Much in the form of your municipal administration can be, I 
understand, directly traced to that of Amsterdam, and when in 1665 
the present form of city government was installed, it was more a con- 
tinuation of the form of the administration as copied from Amsterdam, 
under new names, than a fundamentally new system. 

The institution of public schools and the excellent influence this 
continues to exercise, is one of the most striking, if not the most useful 
heritages from the Dutch colonial days. The efforts which you are 
making to secure a larger measure of self government are an emana- 
tion of proud consciousness that you are fully able to look after your 
own affairs. Anybody acquainted with Amsterdam and its history, 
vdll not fail to see to whom you owe this trait. 

The City on whose behalf I have the honour to address you occu- 
pies a very similar position in our country to the one you have in the 
United States. Although a port of no mean importance, Amsterdam is 
especially prominent on account of its trade in colonial products, 
tobacco, tea, quinine, rubber, tin and all the spices. 

Of her many industries I name but that of which the diamond is 
the raw material, because therein lies one of the most valuable trade 
relations between the two cities. The money market constitutes 
another and very important field on which New York and Amsterdam 
meet daily. The interests which its capitalists take in your railroads 
and industries account for numerous and intimate relations between 
them, so that it could be said that when New York prospers Amsterdam 
fares well. 

The unfortimate war has distorted and broken many corrunercial 
relations, thrown the whole organization of the world's trade out of 
gear. That one of the consequences should be that our two coimtries, 
both earnestly and jealously guarding their neutrality, draw closer 
together, is natural, and I hope that this closer acquaintance may lead 
to still more extensive intercourse. 

Chief above all other features stands Amsterdam's eminence as a 
colonizing power. 

The extensive and prosperous Dutch colonies which are daily 
attracting more attention amongst your merchants are principally 
developed by Amsterdam enterprise. I mention this so as to prove 
that Amsterdam has successfully continued the colonial policy of 
which your City was one of the first results. 

Amsterdam and its burghers are proud of the share they had in 
the foundation and development of a great colonial empire. 

In a so quickly shifting population as that of New York, which to 
us foreigners seems to be in a continuous state of fermentation, civic 

16 



pride finds no time to grow as deeply as in smaller, less rapidly growing 
communities, but still, Mr. Mayor, many have I found amongst the 
New Yorkers, and especially amongst those families whose histories 
are one with that of the City since its earhest days, who are not less 
imbued with a justified pride in the innumerable accomplishments of 
their City than the proudest burgher of Amsterdam. 

The cultivation of civic pride is, I believe, good for a city, for 
numerous are the occasions on which it has more need of the devotion 
of its citizens than of their contributions. 

I am particularly happy at this time to find that there is still felt 
pleasure in an exchange of international courtesies, which take a gent- 
ler form than bullets and bayonet thrusts. 

Amsterdam is anxious to show that it appreciates New York's 
selection of the Dutch colours for the fundament of its flag so as to 
emphasize its Dutch origin. These colours were used by the Prince 
of Orange, whose self-sacrificing courage and lofty sentiments of 
justice and Ubertj' justify their use as an emblem of a city which was 
born of his people. 

There are people who decry the idea of a city flag; I am sorry for 
a man so unimaginative that he cannot see in a fiag a festive and 
decorative emblem in and through which historical truths and noble 
traditions are preserved and transmitted from generation to generation. 
Your country, as well as mine, realizes these days that it is danger- 
ous to allow national or civil pride to carry the people away too far 
from those ideals which the world hopes to see materialized soon. 
Your flag, Mr. Mayor of New York, will not float as a defiant threat 
to outsiders, it will not stand for a boasted superiority over others, 
but it will distinguish a community with noble traditions, high ideals, 
with a splendid history and, pray God, an enviable future. 



At the conclusion of his address, the Consul General presented the 
flag to the Mayor. 



ACCEPTANCE OF THE FLAG BY THE MAYOR 

Mr. Consul-General — In accepting at your hands this flag I beg 
that you will convey to the ancient City of Amsterdam the heartfelt 
thanks of this whole city. In adopting this tricolor as the official flag 
of the city, we are keeping fresh before us the recollection which we 
cherish of this city's early relationship to your great country. 



New York is proud of its growth and of its position in the world- 
It is equally proud of its origin. Among the cities of America New 
York had the exceptional benefit of a dual parentage. On the one side 
from Holland it gained a sturdiness of purpose and force of character. 
These are traits that for centuries have marked its substantial citizen- 
ship. From England it adopted the political institutions which prevail 
in this city until today and are the typical institutions of American 
communities. From them both it inherited the genius for commerce 
which has made New York pre-eminent among the cities of America. 

Today we are commemorating the origin of the city by the adop- 
tion of this flag, and at the same time the 250th aimiversary of the 
establishment of its governmental institutions. Incalculable are the 
obligations of the people of America to those intrepid adventurers into 
a new and broader life, by whose sacrifices and labor the nation was 
established. New York, now perhaps the most cosmopolitan of all the 
cities in the world, still feels the impulse of the spirit which guided 
and sustained the early Dutclmien who established the first settlement 
on the Island of Manhattan. Self-reliance, intrepidity, vision and 
industry, these were the conspicuous characteristics of the founders 
of New Amsterdam. These are the qualities from which the great 
modem City of New York has been built. These are the qualities on 
which New York must base its future development, and so we raise 
this flag as a token of our heritage and as a symbol of our aspirations. 

Day by day it will bring this thought to the people of New York, 
as it floats over the City Hall, that New York counts among its posses- 
sions not only its own rich history and the contributions made in these 
centuries to its progress and development by its ovra people, but all 
the heritage of the great nation of the Netherlands from whose shores 
those first voyagers came to establish in the New World the City of 
New Amsterdam. 

PRESENTATION OF THE SEAL 

Mr. John B. Pine, Chairman of the Committee which proposed the 
adoption of the Flag and the restoration of the City seal, addressing 
the Mayor, said : 

Your Honor — Permit me to introduce Mr. Paul Manship, the 
sculptor, to whose talent and generosity the City is indebted for the 
restoration of its ancient corporate seal, and who will now place it in 
your hands. 

Mr. Manship thereupon presented a bronze replica of the seal to 
the Mayor, who thanked him, and expressed his high appreciation of 




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the great public service rendered in preserving the design of the seal 
adopted by the City in 1686 and in rendering it with such fidelity and 
artistic abiUty. 



At twelve o'clock the Flag was formally raised on the flag pole of 
the City Hall on the staff nearest to the cupola on the east, the national 
flag being displayed on the staff on the cupola and the state flag on 
the westerly staff. The act of raising the Flag was performed by Mrs. 
Maria Duane Bleecker Cox, a great-great-granddaughter of James 
Duane, Mayor of the City in 1784, and as the colors were seen by the 
throng assembled in front of the City Hall, it was greeted with cheers, 
while the band of the "Old Guard" played "America" and a chorus of 
1,500 school children sang the words of the song. 



PRESENTATION OF THE "MAYOR'S FLAG" 

BY MR. JUSTICE VERNON M. DAVIS 
President of the Saint Nicholas Society 

We celebrate today the 250th birthday of the present City govern- 
ment. As we look back over those two centuries and a half, we are 
amazed at the growth of New York in area, population and wealth. 
And if we are consciously proud of these possessions, it is because we 
see that they furnish us the means of becoming not only big, but great. 

Our history records many bitter political struggles for supremacy 
in the City government. One administration has followed another 
with oblivion, and all have gone out of existence bewildered at the 
complexity of the problems they could not solve. 

Latterly, however, a new spirit has dominated our Civic affairs. 
The feeling is quite general, that never before as now, has the business 
of the City been handled with the single purpose of making the City 
great and prosperous and its citizens happy. It would be an exaggera- 
tion to claim perfection, leaving out of account many difficulties yet to 
be overcome and many deficiencies yet to be supplied. But we see a 
reasonable hope for the future. We are turned now in the right 
direction. We have a practical vision of a city of beautiful buildings and 
clean streets; a city where crime is suppressed and punished; a 
city providing generously for the education of its youth and tenderly 
caring for its poor; a city pleasant to dwell in. 



The Ancient City of Amsterdam has shown its good-will, and 
pleasantly called attention to the ties that bind us to Old HoUand, 
by presenting the City of New York with the beautiful flag now floating 
over the City Hall. 

The Saint Nicholas Society of New York, the ancestors of whose 
members lived here during that two hundred and fifty years and many 
of whom rendered great service to their City, State and Nation, asks 
Your Honor to accept this flag to be used as the Mayor's Standard. 
In' presenting it, I wish to express the appreciation of your fellow 
citizens, irrespective of party, of the spirit ruling in your administration 
and of the way in which you and your colleagues have worked to 
establish a non-political and business basis of city affairs and to 
secure the rights and uphold the dignity of our City. 

Mr. Mayor, I have the honor to hand you the new standard. 



ACCEPTANCE BY THE MAYOR 

Judge Davis — I beg that you will express to the members of the 
Saint Nicholas Society my deep personal appreciation for the gift of 
this flag, and on behalf of the people of the city I ask that you express 
the appreciation of its citizenship for the gift of this beautiful and 
fitting emblem of municipal authority. 

This flag is practically a counterpart of the city's flag, and is 
committed to the Mayor as the chief executive of the city. It is used 
on ceremonial occasions to signify the presence of the Mayor of the 
city at public functions. In a sense the use of this flag is a survival of 
days when more ceremony was attached to government than is now 
desired by the pubUc or approved by pubUc opinion. But there is in 
this flag, which I now accept in gratitude, a significance deeper than is 
possessed by a mere emblem of ceremony. This significance is in the 
five stars in a white field, which distinguish it from the flag of the city. 
These stars represent the five boroughs which together constitute 
Greater New York. 

One who occupies the position of Mayor is doubly inspired by the 
character of the city — first, its great size and power; second, the fact 
that it is made up of five great communities, each in itself a city of 
magnitude, but joined together to make one great city united in 
strength, the first city of the world. 

I like this flag, because it signifies the imion of these elements of 
the city. There are those who sometimes seem to regret that the 
five boroughs have joined their fortunes to make the greater city. 



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There is no cause for regret. Naturally, by reason of location and 
common interest the government of one of these parts of the city 
could not be efficiently conducted without regard for every other part. 
More and more there must be closer identification of interest and a 
fuller working out of the big ideal which prompted the consolidation 
of the city. 

The Mayors who will carry this flag will always be reminded that 
the city of five boroughs is one city in its demand for efficient and 
progressive government. 



AFTERNOON CEREMONIES 

The afternoon ceremonies began at half past three o'clock when the 
officials and guests of the City entered the Aldermanic Chamber, 
which was richly decorated with flags and garlands and crowded with a 
large and distinguished audience. 

The order of procession was as follows: 



ORDER OF PROCESSION 

Bertram de N. Cruger, Chief Marshal. 
FIRST DIVISION. 



Samuel L. Martin. 



John Quincy Adams. 



District Attorneys 
Charles Albert Perkins, New York County; Denis O'Leary, Queens County; 

James C. Cropsey, Kings County; Francis Martin, Bronx County; 

Albert C. Fach, Richmond County. 



Robert W. deForest, Presi- William J. Coombs. Walter Cook. 

dent. Howard Mansfield. George W. Breck. 

John DeWitt Warner. I. N. Phelps Stokes. Augustus J. Miller. 

Walter H. Crittenden. John B. Pine. Charles H. Russell. 

John Bogart. Arnold W. Brunner. WUliam A. Boring. 

Frank R. Lawrence. John J. Boyle. R. T. H. Halsey. 

John D. Crimmins. 

Public Service Commission 

Edward E. McCall, Chairman; George V. S. WUliams, Robert C. Wood, WUliam Hayward, 

J. Sergeant Cram. 



Heads of City Departments 
Arthur Woods, Police Department. 

William Williams, Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity. 
John J. Murphy, Tenement House Department. 
John T. Fetherston, Department of Street Cleaning. 
Lawson Purdy, Department of Taxes and Assessments. 
John A. Kingsbury, Department of Public Charities. 
John E. Weier, Commissioner of Parks, Queens. 
Thomas W. Whittle, Commissioner of Parks, Bronx. 
Raymond V. IngersoU, Commissioner of Parks, Brooklyn. 
Cabot Ward, Commissioner of Parks, Manhattan and Richmond. 
S. S. Goldwater, Department of Health. 
Robert Adamson, Fire Department. 
Thomas W. Churchill, Department of Education. 
R. A. C. Smith, Department of Docks and Ferries. 
Katharine Bement Davis, Department of Correction. 
F. J. H. Kracke, Department of Bridges. 



Board of Education 



General George W. Wingate. 

Robert L. Harrison. 

John P. Benson. 

John Whalen. 

Ernest F. Eilert. 

Morton Stein. 

Antonio Pisani. 

John Martin. 

Louis Newman. 

Henry N. Tifft, ex-President. 

Fred. H. Johnson, Assistant Secretary. 



Ira S. WUe. 

Mrs. Ira Leo Bamberger. 

Miss Martha L. Draper. 

J. J. Keller. 

John Greene. 

Joseph Barondess. 

Alrick W. Man. 

Peter Lavelle. 

William G. Wilcox. 

A. Emerson Palmer, Secretary. 

Edward W. Stitt, Dist. Supt. of Schools. 



Presidents of the Boroughs 

Douglas Mathewson, Bronx; Maurice E. Connolly, Queens; Lewis H. Pounds, 

Brooklyn; Marcus M. Marks, Maiiiattan. 

Corporation Counsel 
Frank L. Polk 

The Comptroller 
William A. Prendergast 



SECOND DIVISION 

Marshal 
Louis Graves 

Officers of the National Guard, New York, and Naval Militia 
National Guard 
First Brigade 

Col. Daniel Appleton and Adjutant, 7th Infantry. 
Col. Clarence S. Wadsworth and Adjutant, 12th Infantry. 
Col. Louis D. Conley and Adjutant, 60th Infantry. 
Col. William G. Bates and Adjutant, 79th Infantry. 

Second Brigade 

Col. John H. Foote and Adjutant, 14th Infantry. 

Col. Frank H. Norton and Adjutant, 23rd Infantry. 

Col. Ernest E. Jannicky and Adjutant, 47th Infantry. 

Lieut. Col. Eugene W. VanC. Lucas and Adjutant, 22nd Corps of Engineers. 

Col. Charles I. DeBevoise and Adjutant, First Cavalry. 

Major William R. Wright and Adjutant, Squadron A. 

Lieut. Col. Merritt H. Smith and Adjutant, First Field Artillery. 

Col. George A. Wingate and Adjutant, Second Field Artillery. 

Coast Defense Command 

Col. Elmore F. Austin and Adjutant, Eighth. 

Lieut. Col. John J. Byrne and Adjutant, Ninth. 

Col. Nathaniel B. Thurston and Adjutant, Thirteenth, 

Lieut. Col. Arthur F. Schermerhom. 

Major F. L. V. Hoppin, Adjutant General, First Brigade, Governor's Staff. 

Alvan W. Perry, Captain, First Field Artillery, Governor's Staff. 

Thomas Fairservis, First Lieutenant, 23rd Infantry, Governor's Staff. 

Naval Militia 

Commander Alfred B. Fry, Chief of Staff; Commander Charles L. Poor, First Bat- 
talion; Commander C. O. Brinckerhoff Second Battalion. 

THIRD DIVISION 

Marshal 
Leo Amstein 

Surrogates of the Counties 

George M. S. Schulz, Bronx; Daniel Noble, Queens 

Regents of the University of the State of New York 

St. Clair McKelway, Chancellor. Abram I. Elkus. 

Pliny T. Sexton, Vice-Chancellor. Andrew J. Shipman. 

William Nottingham. Charles B. Alexander. 

Albert Van der Veer. Francis M. Carpenter. 
John Moore. 

Justices of the Supreme Court, State of New York 

Edward F. O'Dwyer. Russell Benedict. Edward J. Gavegan. 

Francis K. Pendleton. Charles L. Guy. Edward G. Whitaker. 

Francis M. Scott. Victor J. Dowling. Thomas F. Donnelly. 

Mitchell L. Erlanger. Leonard A. Giegerich. Irving Lehman. 

Garrett J. Garretson. M. Warley Platzek. Luke D. Stapleton. 

Vernon M. Davis. James A. Blanchard. 

Judges of the United States Courts 
Charles M. Hough, Van Vechten Veeder, Julius M. Mayer. 

26 



FOURTH DIVISION 



Marshals 
Henry H. Curran, Frank L. Dowling 

The City Clerk 
P. J. Scully, Frank J. Goodwin, Deputy 



O. Grant Esterbrook, 

Chairman. 
Jacob Bartscherer. 
Albert C. Benninger. 
Daniel M. Bedell. 
John H. Boschen. 
Robert H. Bosse. 
William D. Brush. 
Samuel J. Burden. 
William H. Bums. 
Michael Carberry. 
Lauren Carroll. 
William H. Chorosh. 
Charles P. Cole. 
William W. Colne. 
Frank Cunningham. 
Henry H. Curran. 
Charles Delaney. 
John Diemer. 
Frank T. DLxson. 
Bernard E. Donnelly. 
Frank Dostal, Jr. 
Frank J. Dotzler. 
Frank L. Dowling. 
William Duggan. 



The Board of Aldermen 
Vice- Alexander Dujat. 
Edward Eichhorn. 
John T. Eagan. 
James R. Ferguson. 
August Ferrand. 
William Fink. 
John S. Gaynor. 
Joseph M. Hannon. 
Michael J. Hogan. 
Oscar Igstaedter. 
Louis Jacobson. 
William P. Kenneally. 
Francis P. Kenney. 
John Kochendorfer. 
William J. Lein. 
Abraham M. Levy. 
John McCann. 
John F. McCourt. 
William P. McBarry. 
James W. Milligan. 
James J. Molen. 
Charles J. Moore. 
Jesse D. Moore. 
Robert L. Moran. 
Frank Mullen. 



James F. Mullen. 
James J. Nugent. 
John J. O'Rourke. 
Henry Ottes. 
William H. Pendry. 
Charles A. Post. 
Hyman Pouker. 
William F. Quinn. 
John J. Reardon. 
Harry Robitzek. 
Isadore M. Rosenblum. 
Clarence Schmelzel. 
Peter Schweickert. 
Amon L. Squiers. 
Michael Stapleton. 
Frederick H. Stevenson. 
Edward H. Taylor. 
Frederick Trau. 
Edward B. Valentine. 
Jacob Weil. 
Louis Wendel, Jr. 
John J. White. 
Frederick H. Wilmot. 



Marshals in Charge of the Aldermanic Chamber 
John H. Boschen. John S. Gaynor. Ira Patchin. 

Robert H. Bosse. Joseph Haag. Paul C. Wilson. 

Henry J. Case. Shepard Morgan. 



FIFTH DIVISION 

Marshal 
Theodore Rousseau 

Mayors 
Ardolph Kline, ex-Mayor, New York City. 
Patrick R. Griffin, Mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey. 
Milton Deraarest, Mayor of Hackensack, New Jersey. 
John M. Brown, Mayor of Stamford, Connecticut. 
Mark M. Fagan, Mayor of Jersey City. 

Francis de NeufviUe Schroeder 

Brigadier Genera] George R. Dyer, First Brigade, N. G., N. Y. 
Brigadier General John G. Eddy, Second Brigade, N. G., N. Y. 
Commodore Robert P. Forshew, New York Naval Militia. 
Chaplain Edmund Banks Smith, U. S. A., Governor's Island. 
Major General John F. O'Ryan, commanding New York National Guard. 
Captain Gordon Johnston, U. S. A., Aide-de-Camp to Major General Wood, D. S. A. 
Commander Upham, U. S. N., Aide to Admiral N. R. Usher, U. S. N. 
A. van deSande Bakhuyzen, Consul General of the Netherlands. 
Professor John Erskine, Ph. D., Columbia University. 
Professor William R. Shepherd, Ph. D., Columbia University. 
President John H. Finley, LL.D., University, State of New York. 
Hon. George McAneny, President of the Board of Aldermen and Chairman of the 
Anniversary Committee. 

Hon. Charles S. Whitman, Governor of the State of New York. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE ALDERMANIC CHAMBER IN THE 
CITY HALL, THURSDAY AFTERNOON, JUNE 24, 1915. 

ADDRESS BY HON. GEORGE McANENY 

President of the Board of Aldermen, and Chairman of the 

Anniversary Committee 

Governor Whitman, Fellow-Citizens, Ladies and Gentlemen—It 
is my privilege, as Chairm.an of the Commitee appointed by the Mayor, 
to provide for the proper commemoration of this day, to welcome you 
here ; to welcome you in the name of the City of New York. 

The day that we do celebrate is full of happy significance for the 
people of this City. Coincidentally with raising above the city's 
buildings for the first time a new and distinctive City Flag, designed to 
bring together in its suggestion the various phases in the history and 
in the development of the city, beautiful in its conception and, as we 
have already realized, full of inspiration for all of us — coincidentally 
with this, we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the foundation of the 
present municipal government. 

The years that have passed within these two and a half centuries 
have been years of the most wonderful progress known perhaps in the 
history of mankind — the progress of a city that has become an empire. 
The little Dutch village, expanding into the City of New Amsterdam, 
itself, in turn, replaced by the English City of New York; then the 
first great city of the republic, now the political and commercial capital 
of the new world, and, as we frankly admit and cheerfully protest, the 
greatest city on the face of the earth. All of this has come to pass 
within what in the history of time and of the hvunan race is after all but 
a brief span of years. 

In celebrating the anniversary of the foundation of the govern- 
ment, we celebrate, however, a great deal more. We express our own 
profound satisfaction and our pride in the kind of city that we have; 
in the sort of government that we have built up ; in the wealth and the 
comfort and the constantly improving social and living conditions of 
our people themselves. We have ever so much for which to be thank- 
ful. We are thankful, and our celebration is made in that spirit. 

This morning we received from the old City of Amsterdam, in a 
most gracious address of presentation from the present Consul General 
of the Netherlands in New York, the first City Flag. We celebrated 



then the sentiment, the old sentiment, and in some ways the sweetest 
and the fondest sentiment of all. This afternoon, may I read to you a 
dispatch that has just come to us from the Lord Mayor of Old York 
in England, bringing again from over-seas the suggestion of these 
bonds that have never been shaken, and have been strengthened 
throughout all of our history, between the Cit>' of New York and the 
mother countries across the seas? 

"To the Mayor of New York: 

"The citizens of Old York unite with me in sending their 
congratulations to you and your fellow citizens of New York on 
the 250th anniversary of the installation of your first Mayor. 
May Old and New York lead the way in ever-growing friendship 
between the great American Republic and the British Empire. 
New York has surpassed us in size and wealth, but we share with 
her a like devotion to the principles of humanity, self-government 
and liberty, which are the common heritage of all the EngUsh 
speaking peoples. 

LORD MAYOR OF YORK." 

May I assure you that an appropriate reply will be sent to the 
Lord Mayor of York by Mayor Mitchel this afternoon, as he was able 
in person to reply this morning to the message from the City of Am- 
sterdam. I regret greatly that because of the illness of the Mayor, 
not serious by any means, but unhappily timed, he is not able to be with 
us. Perhaps in his absence it might be even more appropriate for me 
to add a final word of congratulation to you, and through you to the 
city, upon the things that have come to pass under his leadership. 
We have proceeded two hundred and fifty years. We are passing 
through some of the finest of them, some of those that are fullest of 
fruition. It warmed my heart to hear Judge Davis this morning, 
in presenting to the Mayor this new flag of the Mayor, in the new 
colors, with the stars of the five boroughs, speak of the debt that the 
people of this city recognize v,'hen they regard the administration of 
John Purroy Mitchel, and when they regard, as they must, the disin- 
terestedness, the spirit of nonpartisanship and the excellent leadership 
that has characterized all he has done for the city during the brief 
year and a half of his administration. It seems to me that that 
is a most appropriate chapter in what may be said this afternoon in 
celebration of the day itself. 

Now, it becomes my duty to present to the city, although it is a 



presentation which proceeds from one branch of government to 
another, a tablet that has been prepared by the Committee led by Mr. 
John B. Pine — a tablet commemorating our 250th anniversary. May 
I read the inscription before it is displayed : 

"In Commemoration of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anni- 
versary of the Establishment on June 24, 1665, of Municipal 
Government under the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the 
City of New York as Successors in Office to the Burgomasters and 
Schepens of the City of New Amsterdam." 

The tablet is appropriately placed in the chamber of the Board of 
Aldermen, the Board of Aldermen taking its form, its standing and 
establishment upon the same day that the city government itself was 
established. May I add that I am proud, indeed, to preside over the 
present Board of Aldermen, which is making a record that I offer 
with that of the Mayor and his record of service to the people of the 
City of New York. 

The tablet will be unveiled by a young man whose right is clear 
indeed — Francis de NeufvLUe Schroeder, who is the ninth in direct 
descent from the first Mayor of the city, Thomas Willett. 

(The tablet was then unveiled by Master Schroeder.) 

Mr. McAneny, Ladies and Gentlemen: The address that the 
Mayor had hoped to make in receiving this tablet in the name of the 
city, will be read by his Secretary, Mr. Theodore Rousseau. 



MAYOR MITCHEL'S ADDRESS 
Read by Mr. Theodore Rousseau, Secretary to the Mayor 

For two hundred and fifty years New York has continued under a 
form of government fundamentally unchanged. The city has grown 
in this time from a mere outpost of trade and civilization to the leading 
center of commerce and civilization of the world. Is it not significant, 
therefore, that this ceremony comes at a time when New York is 
confident of its capacity for self-government, determined to make 
the highest use of its cherished heritages of two centuries and a half, 
and eager as well as prepared for more adequate powers to govern its 
own affairs? 



Sc^^^^^^iopop^^ragpc^^Mi 



1665 




9i^ 



IN COMMEMORATION OF 
THE 

TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH 
ANNIVERSARY 

OF THE ESTABLISHMENT ON 

JUNE-24-1665 

OF MUNICIPAL GOVERNIAENT IWDER 

THE iMAYOR AND BOARD OF ALDE^JVIEN 

OF THE CiTYOF NEV/ YORK 

AS SUCCESSORS INOFFICETO 

THE BURGOMASTERS AND SCHEPENS 

OF THE CITY OF NEW AMSTERDAM 



ra^BS3C3530raJOC 



Bronze Tablet in the City Hall 



I count it fortunate that we have no apologies to make for the 
character of the government on this occasion, especially of that ancient 
institution whose long life we celebrate today the Board of Aldermen. 
Never in its history, perhaps, has the Board been more faithful to its 
duties, more eager to serve the city. But if we are striving to make the 
government of the city worthy of its great tradition we are also deter- 
mined, if we can, to make it adequate for its present needs and the 
needs of tomorrow. . In two hundred and fifty years the city has 
certainly reached the age of discretion and miaturity. Now, if ever, it 
may safely be trusted to manage its own affairs. 

The present revision of the State Constitution gives us the 
opportunity for converting the meaningless and repeatedly broken 
promises of Home Rule into a reality. This ceremony receives added 
significance as an attest of New York City's capacity, desire and 
readiness for genuine Home Rule in order that it may be free to carry 
forward its development in accordance with the judgment of its people, 
the capacity of its resources, and free from the vexatious control and 
interference of a remote and uninformed State legislature . 

New York is not seeking to set itself up as a separate community 
apart from the rest of the State. It asks only, in common with the other 
cities of the State, that the people shall give it power to make its 
government now inherited from colonial days, a modem, efficient 
instrument of American democracy. 

It is, indeed, a significant fact that this year, in which the Board of 
Aldermen, our local legislature, has achieved a successful and credit- 
able reorganization, developed a higher standard, and entered new 
fields of wider usefulness, should be coincident with the two hundred 
and fiftieth anniversary of its own establishment, and that in this year 
the city, shoulder to shoulder with the other fifty-five cities of this 
State, out of the fullness of bitter experience, should be demanding of 
the State legislature a grant of power to make its local government 
thoroughly effective in the service of its citizens. I predict that, 
should the cities of this State be released this year from the galling 
interference and control of the legislature in local concerns, the Board 
of Aldermen will enter upon a still wider field of pubUc usefulness, 
and that its record in that field will reflect credit upon it and upon the 
city that it serves. 

Mr. McAneny: We will now hsten to an historical address by 
Dr. William Robert Shepherd : 



"NEW YORK THEN AND NOW" 

Address by William Robert Shepherd, Ph.D. 
Professor of History in Columbia University 

When the mind runs back through the two centuries and a half 
that connect the huge metropoUs of jthe western world with a quaint 
little town perched on the southern tip of Manhattan, it conjures up a 
vision of achievement more wondrous by far than the tales of Arabian 
magic. To picture remote beginnings is often an easy task, but for 
the beginners themselves to imagine the outcome of their handiwork 
requires a gift of prophecy all too rare. Nor should it be forgotten that 
the pleasure, with which he who surveys the result views its struggling 
inception, must ever be tinged with mystic regret, that the founders 
were denied a share in the contemplation of what was to be accom- 
plished. As we invoke the shades of the lengthening past of our great 
city, therefore, let us call up anew in memory the townsmen of the 
days when old New York was young, and invite them to rejoice with us 
in spirit that they builded so wisely and so well. 

No clearer proof of the marvels that have been wrought, no keener 
conception of what the metropolis is, and what it means to those who 
dwell within it, could be supplied than that offered by a view of it in 
the third quarter of the seventeenth century. If comparisons be some- 
times odious, they are often instructive. Any concrete description of 
New York at the present time, while stimulating enough to our pride 
in size and numbers and material things, yet leaves us vague of appre- 
ciation, simply because we are in the city and of it. The population, 
after all, is only the individual man, woman and child multiplied in 
myriads, and the municipal structure naught but their personal pos- 
sessions enlarged to a vast degree. Intimately familiar with the giant 
complex, unable to dissociate it from ourselves and our belongings, 
we are constrained to fancy that it must always have been so. If we 
would perceive New York as it is, we must set it mentally beside New 
York as it was, and visualize the difference. 

At the time the little town on Manhattan started forth under its 
new name it had one especial distinction at least: its date was larger 
than its population. The first mayor and board of aldermen could 
write 1665 on their official documents, but they could muster only 
1,500 inhabitants to read them. In sober truth, however, New Yorkers 
of that time were not expected to read municipal ordinances, any more 
than their descendants are presumed to regard the City Record as a 
form of light literature. Many of them did not know how to read, 
and ability in this direction was not altogether necessary for public 



purposes. All they had to do was to assemble at the ringing of the town 
bell about the platform in front of the town hall near Coenties Slip, 
and hearken to the announcements of the town crier. 

Just what appearance did New York of such disparity between 
calendar and census offer to the city fathers and the people of their 
charge? A contemporary account says : 'The town is compact and o-'al, 
with very fair streets and several good houses '■' * '■' built most of 
brick and stone and covered with red and black tile * '''" * after the 
manner of Holland, to the number of about four hundred * * * which 
in those parts are held considerable * * * and the land being high it 
gives at the distance a pleasing aspect to the spectators * * The 
city has an earthen fort " * * within (which) * * * stand a windnull 
and a very high staff upon which a flag is hoisted whenever any vessel 
is seen in * * * ( the ) bay. The church rises with a lofty doubled roof, 
between which a square tower looms up. On the one side is the prison 
and on the other side of the church is the governor's house. * * * 
At the water side stand the gallows and the whip (ping post) (and a 
handsome city tavern adorns the furthest point.' Thus militarism, 
industry and religion, government, punishment and entertainment were 
all found within the limits of incipient New York; but there were 
other elements of municipal life and character v/hich call for especial 
mention. First among them is the lay of the land. 

A glimpse at the southern end of Manhattan in those days would 
have revealed a series of wooded hills, some of them eighty feet above 
the present street level, interspersed with grassy valleys and sur- 
rounded by marshy meadows. On the northward side was a deep 
pond called 'The Collect,' flooding the area now bounded by Baxter 
White, Elm, Duane and Park Streets. Beyond this lay high and rocky 
ground rising at times to 240 feet above tide water. On the south, 
also, Manhattan was not so broad as it is to-day, for m.any of the 
marshy meadows have been filled in and on them streets laid out. 
A great part of the Battery has been similarly reclaimed. 

The fort, some 300 feet long by 250 feet broad, flanked with 
four grass-grown earthem ramparts, occupied the site of the United 
States custom-house. Provided with excellent herbage the sloping 
sides of the ramparts were very attractive to browsing cattle, horses, 
pigs and goats that munched contentedly as they gazed at the mar- 
tial spectacle beneath them. The damage indeed caused by the 
depredations of such rooters and ruminants was an increasing source 
of concern to the city fathers, until more effective measures were 
taken to keep stray animals in check. 

One class of animals, however, long retained favorable consider- 



ation, namely, the cows belonging to the citizens, as contrasted with 
the residents, of New York. Perhaps the possession of the so-called 
'burgher-right' by their owners may have suggested the creation of a 
kind of bovine aristocracy as well. At all events a tract near 'The 
Collect' about Centre Street was reserved as a pasture for citizens' 
cows alone. One Gabriel Carpsey was their herdsman and like his 
angelic namesake, we are told, carried a horn which, to pursue the 
likeness still further, he blew in the morning at the gates of the 
ov/ners, collected his drove and conducted it along Broadway through 
Pearl Street and Maiden Lane to its exclusive grazing ground. In 
the evening the procession wound slowly homeward from the lea and 
Gabriel's trumpet aimounced the several arrivals at the proper desti- 
nations. 

Supplementing the defence offered by the fort was a stockade of 
wooden palisades backed by a low earthen wall. This ran along the 
East River to near the junction of the present Pearl and Wall Streets, 
followed the line of Wall Street, its namesake, to the corner of Broad- 
way, and then proceeded westward to a steep bluff overlooking the 
Hudson not far from Greenwich Street. To the top of the palisades 
boards were nailed so as to prevent Indians from jumping over them. 
Wall Street in fact was the northern limit of the town. 

Convenience in arriving at certain places and in skirting hills or 
marshes, had early decided the course of the highways of New York. 
Some of the roads or lanes were mere cow-paths. This accounts for 
the narrowness and crookedness of the streets below Wall Street 
and for some above that thoroughfare. From the 'Marketfield Plaine,' 
or 'Bowling Green,' as it came to be known, a spot where fairs and 
other festivities were often held, two important highways diverged. 
Of these one ran northward along the present Broadway to neai its 
junction with Wall Street. The other, now Marketfield Street, led 
to Broad Street, through the centre of which coursed a creek or canal. 
Hard by the comer of Broad and Bridge Streets the merchants met 
on Fridays to transact their business in the first exchange set up on 
Manhattan. Here, too, the centre of financial activity has remained 
for two centuries and a half. 

Close to this early exchange lay the market-place, on the comer 
of Broad and Pearl Streets, to which on Saturday mornings the coun- 
tryfolk brought their produce. Here was located the first of the mu- 
nicipal markets later to become so famous in Kev; York. Near Broad 
and Bridge Streets, and again on Moore Street, jutting out from 
Pearl, were a dock and a wharf, the scant beginnings of the vast 
system of docks and wharves that now line our water front. 



Behind the fort, stretching from State Street to Whitehall Street, 
was Pearl Street, the oldest and most populous thoroughfare of the 
time. On the present site of the warehouses of Numbers 71 and 73 
Pearl Street, facing Coenties Slip, stood the town hall, easily the 
most pretentious building on Manhattan. Erected originally as a 
"Harberg" or tavern, it was some fifty feet square, three stories in 
height with two more in the roof, and crowned by crow-step gables. 
In the rear of the town hall ran another roadway, the present High 
Street, from a bridge over the outlet of the creek through Broad 
Street along the East River to the junction of Pearl and Wall Streets. 
On High Street dwelt the fashionable folk of New York. 

So as to protect the shore in front of the town hall and the houses 
of the inhabitants along Pearl Street against the inroads of the high 
tides of the East River, a sheet piling had been made of planks 
driven into the earth. It stretched from the foot of Broad Street to 
Coenties Slip and thence to the comer of Pearl and Wall Streets. 
Along the fine, dry promenade formed in this way the young men 
and maidens of the little city were accustomed to take their evening 
stroll, "watching the silver moonbeams as they trembled on the calm 
bosom of the bay, or lit up the sail of some gliding bark, and perad- 
venture interchanging the soft vows of honest affection." 

From the junction of Pearl and Wall Streets a road crossed the 
present Roosevelt Street, then a stream called the 'Old Kill,' by the 
famous "Kissing Bridge." "Here," says a clergyman of the eighteenth 
centurj', "it was customary before passing beyond to salute the lady 
who is your companion." On his own behalf he ingenuously admitted 
that he found the practice "curious, yet not displeasing." The prac- 
tice, at any rate seems to have been so much appreciated by the 
young men of the period and possibly also by the young women — 
that at several other bridges on Manhattan, ordinarily free to cross, 
it became the rule to collect toU of this description. 

Somewhat north of the bridge the road ascended a hill so steep 
that a roundabout way had to be devised, and the loop made in the 
attempt to find a better grade still exists in Chatham Square. Wend- 
ing our path still farther north we come to the "bouwerie," or farm 
and country residence of Governor StujT^esant, located roughly be- 
tween Third Avenue and the East River, Sixth and Sixteenth Streets, 
from which an international thoroughfare of great renown derives its 
name. The house itself stood near the corner of Twelfth Street and 
Third Avenue. It formed the nucleus of Bow-ery Village. 

Considerably to the north of Stuyvesant's "bouwerie" lay the set- 
tlement of New Haarlem, which in the twentieth century at least has 



become of prime importance, whatever may have been its standing 
in the seventeenth. Situated generally north of a line stretching 
from the present Eighth Avenue and 112th Street to the East River 
at 100th Street were broad, moist and fertile meadows called by the 
Dutch "The Flats." So large comparatively did the number of set- 
tlers there become that the hamlet had been elevated to the dignity 
of a village. Like the parent tovv^n, New Haarlem came in the prog- 
ress of the centuries to spread over a much wider area. Yet in the 
straw-thatched farm-house on the fiats of New Haarlem one may 
hardly detect the prototype of the institution -known as the Harlem 
fiat. 

Such is a sketch in merest outline of New York as it started on 
its career. Many years were to elapse ere the town revealed the 
promise of its future greatness. Yet the promise was there, hidden 
in the bosom of a wondrous harbor where a noble stream, coursing 
from plains and forests that stretched northward and westward in 
boundless magnificence, mingled its waters with an ocean girdling 
the globe; hidden in adjoining shores and islands where the sites 
of a million homes awaited the strokes of the craftsman who should 
fashion the foundation of nature into the residence of man; hidden 
in a microcosm of fifteen hundred souls, even then representative 
of many of the nations of earth and destined to become a world state 
in miniature, to which should be gathered men, women and children 
of every clime to dwell in peace and contentment under the starry 
flag of hope and freedom. To-day, as we behold the promise of yore 
realized so bounteously, our hearts must well up in joy and thanl:- 
fulness to the Creator of every good and perfect gift that, although 
the use of the gift may yet be far from perfect, it nevertheless is good 
and an augury of still larger welfare. 

It is sometimes said that, would one understand the character- 
istics of the American people, he must visit each of the four sections 
into wliich they are divided, and hearken to the question prevailing 
there. He must learn what the attitude of a particular section is 
toward life in general and toward the individual himself, as set forth 
by the folk of one of its typical cities. In Boston, as a spokesman for 
the East, he will be asked: "What do you know?" In Charleston, as 
an advocate for the South, he will hear: "Who are you?" In San 
Francisco, as a champion for the West, he will meet the query: 
"What can you do?" But in New York, as the standard-bearer for 
the North, the direct question put to him will be: "How much have 
you got?" 

At first blush this last interrogation might be regarded as proof 



positive of a belief among New Yorkers in the amassing of wealth as 
the sole end of man's activities. It sounds sordid, it savors of a gross 
materialism that ignores the higher, the purer and the nobler aims 
of human ambition and accomplishment. It seems infinitely be- 
neath the will to learn, or perhaps better, the want to know of the 
East, the will to recognize individual worth, of the South, the will to 
achieve of the West. 

Such an estimate of New York, however, does scant justice to 
its past, no less than to its present and its future. If indeed our city 
is mighty in material things, if its area is huge, if its buildings are 
colossal, if ten thousand be a host and this be multiplied five hun- 
dred fold, is all that in itself naught of which to boast? If it be, also, 
characteristic of the American ever to speak of size and cost, then 
New York, more than any other city in our wide domain, is typical 
of the entire United States. But does the American, does the New 
Yorker, think only of the results attained, of results measured merely 
in acreage and masonry, in dollars alone, in the figures of statistics 
as they stand? Or is his thought based in reality upon a contempla- 
tion of the gigantic effort by which the results have been attained, 
and of the cost in the labor of struggle and sacrifice which must be 
paid before the finished product is turned out from the maker's 
hand? This rather, I take it, is the true interpretation of the pride of 
the American in the United States, eind of the New Yorker in his 
metropolis of the New World. 

And what of the foremen of the builders of the commomvealth, 
what of the city fathers, through the two hundred and fifty anniver- 
saries, guiding with watchful care the growi:h and development cf the 
tiny town planted on the southern tip of the "island of the Hills," as 
it struck its roots deep and strong, and spread its branches far and 
wide, in a span that is without compass? Surely we must accord 
them a just meed of praise for what they have done to promote the 
achievement that stirs our pride so powerfully. 

To the Mayor and Aldermen of the Greater New York of to-day 
and to-morrow, and the Lesser New York of yesterday, let us offer 
our token of appreciation for their share in the creation cf this, our 
world state in miniature, made up of many nationalities brought 
together as a community of singleness, at once a pattern and a sym- 
bol for the people of Europe, Asia, Africa and the isles of the sea 
now racked by war and strife, for the peoples who may yet talce cour- 
age from this example of municipal nationaUsm, this example of how 
possible it is for men of many tongues and customs and traditions to 
assemble and dwell side by side in harmony, under the protecting 



aegis of a democracy that yields to each the measure of his worth 
and recks not of privilege inherited or of hatreds born of ages. Let 
this be our offering, also, to humanity at large in its groping toward 
the dawn of that happy day when we shall have, not alone the condi- 
tion of peace on earth, but the realization of the far grander senti- 
ment — of good will toward men. 

Mr. McAneny: It is now my very great pleasure to present a 
gentleman who, though President of the University of the State of 
New York, we like best to recall, and recall with nothing less than 
affection, as the ten-years President of our own City College — John 
Huston Finley. 

"THE CITY AND THE FLAG" 

Address by John Huston Finley, LL.D., 

President of the University of the State of New Yorli 

It is a rare honor and privilege for one who has known the lone- 
someness of the furrows, the nearness of the skies, the allurement 
of the open road, the silences and distances of the prairies, the pro- 
cession of the seasons (with no attendant music save of frogs and 
birds and lowing cattle) to be asked to speak unofficially for those 
who love the city — this city, who received me an utter stranger, gave 
me her noblest friendships and at last entrusted to me her highest 
care, the tuition of her sons. Yet dear is she to me, and to millions 
of alien birth or parentage, as ever she can be, even to those whose 
first dim memories are of her face and her voice. 

Eternally young she is. "yVoD/ Belgi," New Belgium, was in- 
scribed upon her first shield. New Amsterdam was her first corporate 
name. New York she became, and a new city she is always to be, 
not in name alone but in that youth which will endure, so long as 
the fresh v/ater runs from the hills to her lips, and the brine of the 
ocean washes her feet. 

But she is dd with the memories of all the cities that have been 
since hunters and shepherds, tired of the terror of the fields or for- 
ests, or longing for human companionship, huddled themselves behind 
walls, on the edge of the meadows or by living waters, became citi- 
zens, instead of wanderers, and began to be civilized social beings 
(for "civilization" and "city" have the same etymological origin). 
The pre-Noachian cities, swept away by the flood and forgotten of 
name; Sodom and Gomorrah, burned with fire and brimstone; 
Jerusalem, whose exiled children wept beneath the willows of Baby- 
lon; Babylon, who saw her own fate written on the walls of a ban- 
quet hall; Thebes and Karnak, buried in the sands; the courts of 



Pharaoh, kept by Hon and lizard; ancient Athens, whose myriad 
mouths are choked with dust; these all, from Zoar, the little city, to 
Nineveh, the great city, which now "crouches in time's corner unre- 
nowned," though famed for a day these all are remembered in the 
heart of this new city of the New World, who in these memories is 
as old as the oldest city in the Old World. 

"Forever young, forever old, the soul of the generic city dwells 
in her. Cities have sprung up on hillside, shore and plain, blossomed 
for a time, drooped, withered, died, slept in their own dust; preachers 
since Jonah have cried against them, poets since David have sung 
enticingly of the green pastures and the still waters, reformers have 
come out of the wilderness since the days of John the Baptist calling 
to repentance and to baptism in streams outside the city. Still the City, 
the generic city has persisted, rising often from its own ashes or climbing 
upon the ruins of its own towers, surviving rapine, famine, pestilence 
and every ill of human association, human passion and human am- 
bition, and receiving into mansion and tenem.ent those driven of 
some "divine, if obscure" instinct, some "irresistible urge" as it has 
been called by that noble American, one time mayor i Brand "Whit- 
lock ), who has lately saved from devastation the capital city of the 
Belgium that was of old when this new Belgium was but an unin- 
habited island— has persisted to make here new attempt to solve the 
time-old problem of civilization, the problem whose solution is "the 
hope of democracy." 

And the children of every nation under the sun are assembled 
here to solve it. It is a city predominantly of aliens, of migrants, 
even as was the celestial city of ultimate happiness which John of 
Patmos saw in his vision. Like that city, it, too, has foundations that 
are not of one stone; nor of concrete, but of material from many 
quarries; sapphire and beryl, topaz and amethyst. And into it, as 
into that imagined ultimate-city, the glory of the nations is brought; 
imports of glory, in art and letters and music, and handicraft; immi- 
grants who bear glorious gifts in the strength of their backs and arms 
and legs, in their industry, in their devotion to family, in their rever- 
ence for ancestors, in their zeal for learning, in their aspirations for 
free, independent citizenship in a world city; immigrants or near- 
immigrants who bear lasting glory in their names as variant in origin 
as St. Gaudens, Schurz, Pupin, Carnegie, Riis, Wald, Goethals, La 
Farge, Straus, and Bitter. 

In the council of her Alderman sit, from time to time, men repre- 
senting the people of Moses and David, Caesar and Justinian, Mon- 
tesquieu, William of Orange, Wallace, Pitt, Plato, Bismarck and 



Gustavus Adolphus. And that council is even now presided over by 
one whose first ancestor I have etymological reason to suspect was he 
whose name M^as given to the first scriptural city, Chanoch or Enoch; 
while in the cnief magistracy and comptrollership, and in this same 
council, sit indomitable, but unagreeing, Celts, descendants of a 
"nation without a flag." 

But what has been laid is only the foundation; of which (we 
recite with pride), the chief comer-stone, the nether-stone, was sup- 
plied by the Netherlands. If we who are alien seem too presuming 
in our possessing affection, let it be remembered that we but build 
on the unyielding Dutch and Saxon nethermost foundations. And 
the structure that rises dimly toward the skies, and in barest outline, 
is the framework on whose peak the builder fastens (from immemo- 
rial custom), a green branch of tree, or a bit of a flag, to tell the world 
below that some day the thing of his dreams and designs will rise 
to that height. 

Varied indeed of foundation has this City been; but of one sub- 
stance (again as the celestial city), will it rise — for with nearly a 
million young and old in the schools, all learning one tongue, trj'ing 
to forget Old World hates and to form New World loves, the material 
must be transmuted with all its variant texture and elemental con- 
stituents, into one citizenry, be it jasper or amethyst or some stone 
never yet found in the urban quarries of the past. 

Two hundred and fifty years! Not of conscious, purposeful 
gathering, but of mere growing, the growing of a child or youth, 
passionate, dreamful, forgetting quickly, planning intermittently, 
working feverishly, playing boisterously. 

To-day, even if she does not put away all her childish things, she 
ascends with her banner to sit among the renowned cities of her 
time. Most of them have blood upon their robes and grief in their 
hearts and tears in their eyes. She must seem to them as yet un- 
knowing, indiscriminately trustful, light-hearted as one upon whom 
no great sorrow has come, inarticulate in world speech, distraught by 
her sympathies, uncertain of her own mind, specifically improvident 
for the future, save in some few hoarded treasures (her schools, her 
colleges, her museums). And yet withal there is a mysterious light 
in her face (however garish or sloven at times her dress and man- 
ner), that gives her irresistible charm even to one who has looked 
with youthful or inherited love upon a Florence, a Paris or an Edin- 
burgh. 

I have almost wished that her three islands, Manhattan, Long 
and Staten (leaving Ellis to New Jersey) might take on her popula- 



tion, sever the cables and tunnels and bridges which moor them to 
the mainland, and put to sea, that she might in the solitude of the 
ocean come to a civic consciousness, meditate upon the future, and 
deliberately plan for the mature city, which in turn is to be the great- 
est communing place, the most masterful and hopeful microcosm of 
the world. 

But it is in no such "home rule" Atlantis, physical or pohtical, I am 
bold to say, that she is to find herself. She needs the nourishing 
continent; and the continent, and particularly that anchoring strip 
of State by which she reaches inland four hundred miles, needs her. 
She needs the State and continent to give her vigor of the earlier 
American stocks and remembrance of their ideals. The State and 
continent need her to carry themselves into commerce, with the highest 
expression of the world's spirit and skill. For she is to be not merely 
a world city; she is to be an American city — a New York City. (The 
blue in her flag is the blue of the State flag.) 

When in that march of the battalion from Marseilles to Paris, 
made memorable in later time by the "Reds of the Midi" of Felix 
Gras, the soldiers heard a dull humming roar or buzzing murmur as 
of bees swarming or of an earthquake, or of the sea beating on the 
rocks, they were told by their commandant that the noise was neither 
swarm, nor earthquake, nor waterfall, nor breaker, nor the roar of 
an army, but the voice of the city toward which they were marching. 
It is that voice which I have heard again and again from the heights 
above this city; the sound of hammers on anvils, or on steel beams, 
the rumbling of the cars, the whirring of machines, the swish of the 
motors, the clang of the gongs, the "jumble of songs and cries and 
sobs and laughter," from which for a moment now and then rises 
some strong clear single stirring word (as when President Wilson 
spoke a few days ago of the "brooding ships" in the North River) or 
shout of joy (as when some great national game has been won), or 
piercing wail (as when the Titanic went down, or as when Euripides, 
Hecuba on the city's heights cried across the centuries against the 
fates of war.) 

And what the sound of the great city is to those who can hear, 
this flag is to those who can see; the symbol of the city's collective 
ideality, a barmer flying over civilization's outposts whence daily 
sally is made for spiritual conquest ; an ensign in the hand of a single 
courageous scout, a lamp in the hand of a scholar or over the desk 
of the public accountant; a signal hghted by a watchful health officer, 
an orifiamme above the teacher — a guiding pillar of blue cloud by 
day, a pillar of the orange glow that hangs over the city by night; a pil- 
lar of the white incense of those who pray with their labor, day and night. 



With this oath, such as the Athenian youth spoke when he 
entered upon the duties of citizenship (an oath rewritten by the sons 
of this City), would I salute this new flag for all who live and are 
to live within this City: 

/ will not disgrace these arms which it carries in ils while field; nor desert the 
faltering comrade who is placed by my side nor those who cared for me in childhood. 
I will fight for things sacred, things beautiful and things economical. I will remember 
those who established this city. I will hand on my city greater and better than I found 
it. I will hearken to magistrates and obey existing laws and those established by the 
people. I will not consent unto any that destroys or disobeys the Constitution, but will 
prevent him. whether alone or with others. I will honor the temples and religion, so 
help me. Thou who didst save an ancient city, because of her children. 

Mr. McAneny: I am able to announce an unexpected and very 
welcome addition to our program. An ode written for the day, "The 
City Flag," will be read to us by Professor John Erskine of Colimibia 
University. 



THE CITY FLAG 



Flag of our hopes, out of our heritage woven, 

Flag for a storied city, forever new, 

What shall you mean to the myriads you wave over? 

What master-loves shall be lifted up to you? 

Strangely will you greet the endless dream the city harbors, 

Greet the astonished eyes the ships bring to the city shore. 

Greet the adventurous hearts with surprise of familiar welcome, 

Weird as a face remembered, yet never seen before. 

Here where the rivers divide, where the eastern bridges 

Carry their ant-like streams, where crag upon crag 

The walls of Aladdin gleam with sunlit windows. 

Here, looking up, they shall look on you, bright flag. 

Ko banner of ancient traffic, realm of the Netherlands, rule of England, 

Ghost of adventures long ago, nor of names gone down with the past; 

Flag of a nobler faring, fiag of the port of vision. 

They shall look up — and behold 1 their mirage come true at last ! 

Here in their hearts' horizon they find haven, 

Dawns that lured them hither, here they find; 

Here is the threshing-floor of the tireless spirit, 

Here on new bread feeds the eternal mind — 

Infinite purpose, infinite reach, infinite life and aspiration. 

Desire of the starlike beauty bound in the common knot of things. 

Beauty changing the restless street with faery glamour, 

And lifting the city towers light as a song with wings. 

Flag of our fathers, out of our heritage woven. 

Flag for a city of hope, forever young, 

Fling to the winds of earth our ageless challenge, 

Sk3rward in you man's faith once more is flung — 

Still may the ships come riding home, thronged with alien faces; 

That yearn with light disguised, that glow with unsuspected powers; 

Till our fortunate eyes, grown old, look up and see you waving 

Welcome to younger days and newer dreams than ours. 

44 



Mr. McAneny: The city is honored to-day by the presence of 
many distinguished visitors. In this audience, in the procession that 
came and that will go, we have officers of City and State, officers of 
Army and Navy and of our own splendid National Guard. We have 
Judges of our courts. Regents of our University, Mayors visiting from 
other towns, and a distinguished assemblage of our fellow citizens, 
men and women. I presume the highest honor is paid by the pres- 
ence of the Governor of the State. 

A hundred years ago, when this building was dedicated to the 
uses of the city, there was reserved a Governor's Room, reminiscent 
now of those days when we had but little of 'Home Rule' by way of 
Albany, when our Mayors themselves were appointed from Albany, 
and the Governor sat in his Governor's Room as a much more direct 
ruler than we have in the Governor to-day. But the Governor's Room 
has passed through various experiences and uses, and now in its 
beautifully restored state is a part of the beauty of the building 
itself, to which we invite the attention of all who come to New York. 

At the conclusion of this meeting, for the first time perhaps in 
seventy or eighty years, the Governor of the State is to receive those 
citizens who will come to meet him in the Governor's Room. I shall 
ask you all when he has concluded to keep your seats until the pro- 
cession has passed out in its retrograde order; and I invite you then 
to meet the Governor in the Governor's Room. 

Governor Whitman is here by even clearer right than that which 
he holds by his great office at Albany, however. He belongs to New 
York. He has long been of our people, long been in our service; 
and because of the fineness and the distinguished character of the 
service he has rendered to the people of the city, he has gained that 
high promotion that made him Governor of the State. We receive 
him back again, as I have said, as one of ourselves. We receive him 
with peculiar pleasure, and we thank him for adding that touch of 
official dignity and significance that the presence of the Governor of 
the State means to this occasion. I have great pleasure in introduc- 
ing to you the Governor. 



ADDRESS BY THE HON. CHARLES S. WHITMAN 
GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : I am. sincerely sorry that 
the temporary illness of the Mayor and his absence make it impossi- 
ble for me to congratulate him personally here on the wonderful 
achievement of the day, on the work of the Mayor's Committee, on 
the accomplishment of the men who have labored so unselfishly and 
so long in making the occasion all that it has been. This celebration, 
dignified and impressive, fittingly marks, it seems to me, the accept- 
ance by the City of New York of the emblem, beautiful in itself, and 
beautiful in its significance. We have heard of its history to-day. We 
know how it has been formed and framed and designed, and we 
know the significance of the stars and the colors and the flag, which 
I am sure will be prized and loved and cherished by the New York 
of the future, next perhaps, if you will permit me to say, the flag of 
the State and the flag of the nation. 

The very general interest throughout the city in this gathering 
and the purpose for which our citizens have come together, indicate, 
I believe, an increasing concern among our men and our women in 
the affairs of the city, the life of the city, its history, and the story of 
its growth and development. The very building in which we are gath- 
ered, symmetrical in outline, beautiful in detail, as it is, offers no 
more striking contrast to the vast piles that surround it here than does 
the City of New York of 1803, when this cornerstone was laid, to this 
wonderful city of to-day. Whether as New Amsterdam, New Orange or 
New York, this city, our city, has played no small part in the life of the 
nation, in the life of the State, for New York City is a part of New 
York State. All its traditions are traditions of New York State. It 
is as essential and as vital and as necessary a part of the Empire 
State, contributing to the State, as the State contributes to the city, 
of its life, of its best blood, in the past as it is doing to-day. Perhaps 
due as much to the construction by the State of New York of the 
Erie Canal as to any other one cause, the city has held during the 
last century the commanding place, absolutely the commanding posi- 
tion in the commerce of the nation, which no other city and no other 
seaport could successfully challenge. It has attracted to itself, as 
has been said to-day, and v/e see it in every gathering — almost in 
any gathering that can be brought together in this great metropolitan 
centre — it has attracted to itself, as few cities of the world, vast 
numbers of people of every race and clime- eager, enterprising, 
energetic — differing in training, differing in tradition, differing in 



habits and customs, differing in ideas and ideals; but all on the 
whole contributing to the city's growth and grandeur, and all greatly 
to be affected by its government and by its laws. 

It has often been said that citizens of other great cities of the 
land seem to manifest more profound interest in their city's pros- 
perit}' — there are more local boomers in every other great city, or 
appear to be, than in New York. There seems to be, so v/e are told, 
more local pride concerned in the city's position and growth than is 
the case with the average New Yorker. Of course, it has not been 
my opportunity to observe conditions elsewhere so long and intimately 
as I have known New York, but I have been, as I know many of you 
have been, profoundly impressed during the last decade with the 
work of various men and various organizations some connected with 
city administrations, and some wholly unconnected with the govern- 
ment of the city in any way — with the efforts which have been made 
and successfully made to arouse interest and disseminate knowledge 
among the men and women of the day and among those who are 
going to become the men and women of to-morrow knowledge of 
the city itself, of all the various departments of its govenmient, of 
every phase of its social life and of all that is being done or may be 
done to conserve what is good, to impress while it may be possible, 
and to bring to the individual a realizing sense of individual respon- 
sibility for conditions, good or bad, in a community where all are 
equal — at least, with equal rights, and equal duties, too. It is pecu- 
harly appropriate that distinguished educators of the city and the 
State — one connected with the great University here, the other the 
President of the great University of New York — I say it is peculiarly 
appropriate that these men, directing, guiding and training boys and 
girls who are to make the State and the city what they are to become, 
should to-day speak of its history, and tell us what they beUeve is 
to be its future. 

Nowhere under the flag has the community more bountifully 
given of its resources to the end that the children of all may receive 
the mental equipment necessary for good citizenship than has New 
York, and the increasing ranks of young men, and young women, 
too, all over the State and throughout the city, keenly alive, informed 
and concerned with the problems growing out of conditions, social, 
economic and political, which are daily growing more complex, 
are witness to the quality and the character of the public instruction 
given by the State and by the city. 

We have heard much to-day that is interesting connected with 
the history of this immediate locaUty, and of the city in which we 



live, much to inspire deeper interest and keener pride in the great 
municipahty and all that it has been, and perhaps, too, a more gen- 
eral appreciation and comprehension of what it may become. It 
may not be generally known — Mr. McAneny has referred to it briefly 
— that there still is in the City Hall a Governor's Room, that was 
created by resolution over one hundred years ago. The Common 
Council of the city directed that "this room and adjoining rooms and 
approaches be finished and furnished at an expense not to exceed 
one thousand dollars." Whether they kept within the appro- 
priation or not history does not record. From that time to this 
the Governor's Room has been kept constantly open for the use and 
for the occupancy of the Chief Executive of the State. Never has a 
Governor been privileged to occupy or to use this room under pleas- 
anter auspices or under more agreeable conditions, or for a more 
delightful purpose, than it is my privilege to use my room to-day. 
I am very sorry not to be permitted to return the very cordial 
welcome to the City Hall which I received from the Mayor this 
morning and to welcome him in person to the Governor's Chamber 
but I do most cordially invite to "the room" — to use the quaint 
language of the resolution — "which was set apart or is or shall be 
set apart by the Corporation of the said City for these purposes or 
this purpose, namely, the use and acconmiodation of the person who 
shall be administering the government of the State" — in the language 
of the resolution, the person temporarily administering the govern- 
ment of the State asks the citizens of the great City, of which he 
is proud to be a resident, in which he has lived so long, and which 
he loves from his very heart, to come to the room and to meet the 
Governor. 



The Citizens' Committee distributed many thousands of the fol- 
lowing leaflets among the principals and pupils of the Public Schools : 



THE CITY OF NEW YORK 
1665—1915 

AN OLD SEAL AND A NEW FLAG 

The City of New York took its present name in 1664, though it 
had been settled and called New Amsterdam in 1626. The first 
Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the City of New York went into 
office in 1665, and the present City seal came into use in 1686. Since 
then this seal has always been used, and, though it has often been 
incorrectly reproduced, the beaver, which v.-as the emblem of the 
original Dutch seal, has always been preserved, together with the 
windmill and flour barrels, representing the then commerce of the 
City. All of these emblems have now been correctly rendered in the 
standard design adopted by the Board of Aldermen, and the figures 
on each side of the shield now represent an Indian of Manhattan 
with a bow in his hand, and an English sailor holding a sounding 
line. The "cross-staff" above the sailor was used by the early navi- 
gators to find their latitude. The Latin inscription means "The Seal 
of the City of Nev/ York." Every detail of the old seal as now re- 
stored tells a story. 

For the first time on June 24, 1915, the City will have an official 
City flag. The colors, orange, white and blue, which have been 
adopted are those of the United Netherlands which first floated over 
Manhattan Island nearly three hundred years ago when a shipload 
of Dutchmen landed on these shores. To their courage and enter- 
prise the City of New York owes its beginning, and the love of civil 
liberty and democratic govenmient which they brought with them 
have done much to make New York the great city which it is to-day. 



In our flag the colors are Dutch, the seal is English, the eagle is 
distmctively American, but the flag as such is the flag of our City. 
It has a meaning; it is a sjonbol of the courage and independence 
which founded the Dutch Republic and gave to New York as its 
birthright free government, free speech, free commerce, free schools, 
and free religion. Our flag is not merely a decoration; it is a page 
of history, and its colors perpetuate a great tradition. It represents 
New York in the past, in the present, and, as we hope it will be in 
the future, a great cosmopolitan city, the home of aU nations, founded 
on liberty and law; beloved, guarded and honored by its people. 

THE CITY OF NEW YORK 

1665 

THOMAS WELLETT, 
Mayor 



1915 



JOHN PURROY MITCHEL, 
Mayor 



50 



The following verses, written by John B. Pine, were distributed 
among the children of the Public Schools in a leaflet in which were 
also printed a copy of the City Flag in colors and the Mayor's 
Proclamation. 

THE ORANGE, WHITE AND BLUE 

June 24, 1915 

To the Island of Manhattan, 

In the Netherlands called New, 
Sailed a little crew of Dutchmen 

'Neath the Orange, White and Blue. 

On the place we call the Battery, 

First those colors bravely flew; 
There was bom our well-loved City 

'Neath the Orange, White and Blue. 

There, amid the Indian wigwams, 

Roofs and steeples slowly grew 
And the trade in beavers flourished 

'Neath the Orange, White and Blue. 

There a score of Dutchmen planted, 

Planted better than they knew, 
Civil government and freedom 

'Neath the Orange, White and Blue. 

And when England's greater power 

Brought Manhattan masters new, 
Still the old tradition lingered 

Of the Orange, White and Blue. 

Till the colonists revolted, 

Puritans and Dutchmen, too, 
And again was fought the battle 

Of the Orange, White and Blue. 

Peace at last, and independence; 

Bom the City was anew. 
Free to men of every nation, 

'Neath the Orange, White and Blue. 

Amsterdam we love and honor, 

York we love best when it's "New," 
Both we cherish and remember 

'Neath the Orange, White and Blue. 

Once again a flag is flying 

O'er Manhattan, old and new. 
And it tells the City's story 

In the Orange, White and Blue. 

51 



DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

Office of the President, 
500 Park Avenue, June 15, 1915. 

To Principals of Schools: 

Ladies and Gentlemen — I have received several inquiries regard- 
ing celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the 
inauguration of the Municipal Government of the City of New York 
by the installation of the first Mayor, Thomas Willett, June 24, 1665. 
The first Board of Aldermen began service at the same time. On 
June 24, 1915, the city wiU have official colors for the first time: the 
orange, white and blue of the United Netherlands, colors which floated 
over the island of Manhattan nearly three hundred years ago. 

The successful efforts you have made to impress upon the children 
at graduation and assembly exercises, a civic obhgation and devo- 
tion will incline you to use this anniversary for another celebration 
of public spirit and of definite and real service to the community. 
The importance of the anniversary, the obligations of school children 
who are the wards of the city, the meaning and historical significance 
of the emblems of the original seal, the concerted recitation of a civic 
pledge, and other dignified and impressive details such as you know 
so well how to devise are commended to your regard. 

I would greatly appreciate on paper 8} 2 by 11 inches so that I 
may bind the sheets into a memorial volume, any program or outline 
of exercises that any of you feel hke sending to me. 

Yours very truly, 

THOMAS W. CHURCHILL, 

President, Board of Education. 

Efforts are being made to secure the presentation of the new flag 
to as many schools as possible. Various historical societies and gen- 
erous individuals interested in the schools have donated flags. It is 
possible that the Mayor's Citizens' Committee may also be able to 
furnish flags if sufficient funds are available. If so, the distribution 
will be made by Superintendent Edward W. Stitt, Chairman of the 
School Celebrations Committee. 

Efforts are also being made to supply each school with a copy of 
a book entitled "Seal and Flag of The City of New York." It con- 
tains interesting data regarding the early history of our city and the 
evolution of the new City Flag. 



52 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS PROVIDED WITH THE CITY FLAG 

City flags were donated by the Committee, through subscriptions 
made by citizens and societies, to many of the public schools, a list 
of which follows : 

Through Mrs. Russell Sage, 25 Flags- 
Julia Richman H. S., 60 West 13th st A. M. Wolfson, Principal. 

Murray HUl Vocational School, 37th St., 

west of 2nci ave Geo. W. Loewy, Principal. 

Vocational School for Boys, 138th St., 

west of 5th ave C.J. Pickett, Principal. 

P. S. 23, Mulberry and Bayard sts J. D. Readron, Principal. 



ss M. Uhlein, Principal. 

ss O. J. Hall, Principal. 

ss A. E. Cunningham, Principal. 

ss K. F. McCarthy, Principal. 

ss A. V. McCarthy, Principal. 

ss M. P. Duggan, Principal. 

ss E. V. Haggerty, Principal. 

Cronson, Principal. 

ss E. C. O'Rourke, Principal. 

ss O. M. Jones, Principal. 

ss H. A. Stein, Principal. 

ss E. J. Hofer, Principal. 

ss K. A. Condon, Principal. 



P. S. 54, 104th St. and Amsterdam ave.. . . M 

P. S. 157, St. Nicholas ave. and 127th st . M 

P. S. 67, 140 W. 46th st M 

P. S. 73, 209 E. 46th st M 

P. S. 78, Pleasant ave. and UQth st M 

P. S. 86, Lexington ave. and 96th st M 

P. S. 102, 113th St., near 2nd ave M 

P. S. 109, 99th St., near 3rd ave B. 

P. S. 117, 170 E. 77th st M 

P. S. 120, 187 Broome st M 

P. S. 159, 119th St., near 2nd ave M 

P. S. 174, Attorney St., near Rivington. . M 

P. S. 1, Bk., Adams and Concord sts M 

P. S. 37, Bk., So. 4th., near Berry st John F. Harris, Principal. 

P. S. 115, Bk., E. 92d st., bet. Aves. 

L and M Miss K. R. Callahan, Principal. 

P. S. 146, Bk., 18th St., near 6th ave Miss J. M. Mackay, Principal. 

P. S. 180, Bk., I8th ave. and 67th st Miss S. A. Rogers, Principal. 

P. S. 6, Q., Steinway ave., nr. Jamaica, 

L. I. C Thos. H. Sweeney, Principal. 

P. S. 14, Q., Fairview and Hillside aves.. 

Corona Heights Miss J. M. Lawlor, Principal. 

P. S. 90, Q., Napier ave., near Jamaica 

ave., Richmond Hill John A. Loope, Principal. 

Through N. Y. Historical Society, 25 Flags— 

P. S. 12, Man., Madison & Jackson sts . . Miss E. W. Kommann, Principal. 

P. S. 25, Man., 4th St., near 1st ave Chas. C. Roberts, Principal. 

P. S. 27, Man., 215 E. 41st st Peter C. Ritchie, Principal. 

P. S. 65, Man., Eldridge and Forsyth 

sts., so. of Hester Wm. Buckley, Principal. 

P. S. 84, Man., 430 W. 50th st Miss I. W. Smith, Principal. 

P. S. 89, Man., 134th st. & Lenox ave . Jacob Theobold, Principal. 

P. S. 95, Man., W. Houston and Clark- 
son sts John E. Wade, Principal. 

P. S. 115, Man., 176th St., St. Nicholas 

and Audobon aves Chas. F. Thelluson, Principal. 

P. S. 160, Man., Rivington & Suffolk sts. . Cornelius D. Fleming, Principal. 

P. S. 188, Man., E. Houston & Lewis sts . Miss E. M. Phillips, Principal. 

P. S. 4, Bx., Fulton ave. and 173d st Simon Hirsdansky, Principal. 

P. S. 20, Ex., Fox and 167th sts Miss M. A. Curtiss, Principal. 

P. S. 23, Bx., 165th St. and Tinton ave. . . . John K. Clark, Principal. 

P. S. 43, Bx., Brown pi. and 135th st Louis Marks, Principal. 

S3 



p. S. 50, Bx., Bryant ave. and 173d st Miss L. Earhart, Principal. 

P. S. 3, Bk., Hancock St., nr. Bedford ave. LaSalle White, Principal. 

P. S. 6, Bk., Baltic st. near Smith st Miss C. Calkins, Principal. 

P. S. 10, Bk., 7th ave. and 17th st Edwin B. Uline, Principal. 

P. S. 18, Bk., Maujer st., nr. Leonard st. . Earl P. Haynes, Principal. 

P. S. 141, Bk., Leonard and Boerum sts. . Miss A. M. Olsson, Principal. 

P. S. 174, Bk., Dumont & Alabama aves. . Miss I. L. Morrison, Principal. 
P. S. 5, Q., Academy st., near Grand ave., 

L- I. C Matthew D. Quinn, Principal. 

P. S. 22, Q., Sanford ave. & Murray St., 

Flushing Miss Mary L. Lyles, Principal. 

P. S. 59, Q., University pi. & Rockaway 

road, Woodhaven Martin Joyce, Principal. 

Jamaica H. S., Hillside ave., Jamaica Theodore Mitchell, Principal. 

Through Commissioner M. L. Draper, 3 Flags — 

P. S. 31, Man., Monroe & Gouvemeur sts. Miss M. F. O'Connell, Principal. 

P. S. 97, Man., Mangin St., no. of Stanton John F. Townley, Principal. 

P. S. 147, Man.,Henry& Gouvemeur sts.. Wm. A. Kottman, Principal. 

Through Society of Colonial Wars, 18 Flags— 

P. S. 3, Man., Hudson and Grove sts Miss M. F. Maguire, Principal. 

P. S. 10, Man., 117th st. & St. Nich. ave. Ernest R. Birkins, Principal 

P. S. 21, Man., 222 Mott st Anthony J. Pugliese, Principal. 

P. S. 83, Man., 110th St., nr. 3d ave Edw. R. Maguire, Prmcipal. 

P. S. 101, Man., 111th St., nr. Lex. ave . Miss M. Baum, Principal. 

P. S. 110, Man., Broome and Cannon sts. Miss A. E. Simpson, Principal. 

P. S. 132, Man., 182nd St. & Wadsv/orth 

ave Thos. C. Halligan, Principal. 

P. S. 135, Man., 1st ave. and 51st st Miss M. M. Stephens, Principal. 

P. S. 169, Man., Audubon ave. & 168th st. Frank A. Schmidt, Principal. 

P. S. 10, Bx., Eagle ave. and 163d st Wm. Rabenort, Principal. 

P. S. 30, Bx., 141st St., near Brook ave Miss M. A. Conlon, Principal. 

P. S. 40, Ex., Prospect ave. & Jennings st. Wm. O'Flaherty, Principal. 
P. S. 42, Bx., Washington ave. & Clare- 

mont parkway Wm. P. McCarthy, Principal. 

P. S. 109, Bk., Dumont ave. & Powell st. . Oswald Schlockow, Principal. 

P. S. 126, Bk., Meserole ave. & Lorimer St. Jos. A. Haniphy, Principal. 
P. S. 158, Bk., Bekiiont ave., Ashford and 

Warwick sts Wm. F. Kurz, Principal. 

P. S. 168, Bk., Throop ave. & Whipple st Robert J. Frost, Principal. 
Training School for Teachers, Park pi., 

W. of Nostrand ave Emma L. Johnson, Principal. 

Through The Merchants' Association, 10 Flags — 

P. S. 15, Man., 4th St., W. of Avenue D . Miss M. Knox, Principal. 

P. S. 24, Man., 128th St., W. of Mad. ave . John F. Waters, Principal. 

P. S. 40, Man., 320 E. 20th st Jos. K. Vandenberg, Prmcipal. 

P. S. 63, Man., 4th st., near 1st ave Miss H. A. Hulskamp, Principal. 

P. S. 64, Man., 9th St., east of Avenue B.. Wm. E. O'Grady, Principal. 

P. S. 96, Man., Avenue A and 81st st Mrs. E. S. Pell, Principal. 

P. S. 114, Man., James, Oliver & Oak sts Jos. K. Griffen, Principal. 

P. S. 186, Man., 145th st., W. of Amst. ave John T. Nicholson, Principal. 

H. S. Commerce, 65th St., W. of B'way. . . John L. Tildsley, Principal. 

Wadleigh H. S., 114th st., near 7th ave . . . Stuart H. Rowe, Principal. 

Through Colonial Order of Acorns, 6 Flags — 

P. S. 1, Man., 8 Henry st Miss M. Davis, Principal. 



p. S. 4, Man., Rivington and Pitt sts Miss L. Rector, Principal. 

P. S. 184, Man., 116th St., nr. Lenox ave.. Jas. B. T. Demarest, Principal. 

Training Dept., Hunter College, 68th st. 

and Park ave Geo. S. Davis, Principal. 

President's Office, 500 Park ave Thomas W. Churchill, Principal. 

N. Y. Training School for Teachers, 

119th St., W. of 7th ave Hugo Newman, Principal. 

Through Society of Colonial Dames, 5 Flags — 

P. S. 28, Man., 257 W. 40th st Miss A. A. Short, Principal. 

P. S. 50, Man., 211 E. 20th st Miss A. McNulty, Principal. 

P. S. 59, Man., 57th St., near 2nd ave Miss M. Bergen, Principal. 

P. S. 69, Man., 125 W. 54th st Thos. Boyle, Principal. 

DeWitt Clinton H. S., 59th st. and 10th 

ave Francis X. Paul, Principal. 

Through The Daughters of The Cincinnati, 3 Flags — 

P. S. 14, Man., 225 East 27th st Geo. L. Hentz, Principal. 

P. S. 104, Man., 16th St., east of 1st ave . Mrs. I. S. Wright, Principal. 
Washington Irving H. S., 17th st. and 

Irving pi Edw. C. Zabriskie, Principal. 

Through Trinity Church Men's Committee, 1 Flag — 

P. S. 29, Albany & Washington sts Magnus Gross, Principal. 

Through The Daughters of the Revolution, 2 Flags — 

P. S. 119, 133d St., east of 8th ave Miss E. C. Schoonmaker, Principal. 

P. S. 177, Market & Monroe sts Miss M. L. Brady, Principal. 

Through Mr. W. Fellowes Morgan, 1 Flag — 

P. S. 166, 89th St., W. of Columbus ave. John F. Reigart, Principal. 

Through Mr. Victor Hugo Paltsits, 1 Flag- 
Morris High School, 166th st. and Bos- 
ton rd John H. Denbigh, Principal. 

Through Commissioner W. G. Willcox, 20 Flags — 
20 Schools in the Borough of Richmond. 
Total, 120. 



PATRIOTIC AND LEARNED SOCIETIES 

Delegates were appointed by the patriotic and learned societies of 
the City to represent them at the ceremonies in the City Hall as follows : 

American Museum of Natural History 
H. Fairfield Osbom, Cleveland H. Dodge, Frederic A. Lucas, Bashford Dean. 

American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society 
Robert L. Bridgman, Edward D. Adams, Emerson McMillin, N. Taylor Phillips. 

Colonial Dames of America 
Miss E. B. Borrowe, Miss Mary Tumbull Morse, Mrs. Borrowe. 

Colonial Dames, State of New York 
Mrs. W. V. S. Thome, Mrs. George C. Fraser, Miss Alice Lounsberry. 

Colonial Order of the Acorns 
William Gordon Verplanck, Cortlandt Schuyler Van Rensselaer, Charles H. Stout. 

Colonial Society of America 
James F. Giles, George S. Goodrich, Theodore W. Compton. 

Daughters of the Cincinnati 

Miss Ruth Washington Place-West, Miss Heilner, Miss Ruth Lawrence, Miss Helen 

Richards. 

Daughters of the Revolution 
Mrs. E. M. Raynor, Mrs. A. A. Herbert, Mrs. Wm. D. Martin. 

Fifth Avenue Association 
Robert G. Cooke, Michael Dreicer, Ogden L. Mills, George T. Mortimer. 

Founders and Patriots of America 
Henry S. Kissam, Theodore Fitch, Eugene J. Grant. 

Friendly Sons of St. Patrick 
Victor Herbert, John G. O'Keefe, William J. Clarke. 

Huguenot Society 
T. J. Oakley Rhinelander, William Dalliba Dutton, W. Lanier Washington. 

Merchants' Association 
William Fellowes Morgan ; William A. Marble, Charles R. Lamb. 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art 
Edward Robinson, Bashford Dean, Henry W. Kent. 

Military Order of the Loyal Legion 
Brig.-Gen. James N. Allison, Colonel Mason A. Stone, Captain George W. Brush 

Netherland Club 
T. J. van der Bent, Ernest Bunge, W. Van Doom, L de Bmyn, W. F. Piek. 

New England Society 
Francis Lynde Stetson, Edward L. Partridge, Harry A. Gushing. 

New York Academy of Medicine 
Dr. A. A. Smith, Dr. Reginald H. Sayre. 



New York Academy of Sciences 
George F. Kunz, Emerson McMillan, Henry J. Cochran. 

New York Botanical Society 
Dr. W. Oilman Thompson, George W. Perkins, Dr. N. L. Britton. 

New York Chamber of Commerce 
Samuel W. Fairchild, Isaac N. Seligman, Welding Ring. 

New York Genealogical and Biographical Society 
John R. Totten, George Austin Morrison, Jr., Henry P. Gibson. 

New York Historical Society 
James Benedict, Fancher NicoU, F. Delano Weeks. 

New York Public Library 

Edwin H. Anderson, Wilberforce Eames, Benjamin Adams, Franklin F. Hopper, 

Victor H. Paltsits. 

New York Zoological Society 
Madison Grant, Wm. T. Homaday, Charles H. Townsend. 

Pilgrims of the United Slates 
Joseph H. Choate, F. Cimlifie-Owen, George T. Wilson, George W. Burleigh. 

The Rockefeller Foundation 
John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Dr. Wallace Buttrick, Dr. Wickliffe Rose. 

Russell Sage Foundation 
John M. Glenn, Alfred T. White, Mrs. Finley Shephard. 

St. Andrew's Society 
William Sloane, William W. MacBean, Lawrence Lane Moore. 

St. David's Society 
Rev. John Williams, Thomas D. Bowen, George Morgan Lewis. 

Saint Nicholas Society 
Hon. Vernon M. Davis, Alfred Wagstaff, Henry Cotheal Swords. 

Society of the Cincinnati 

Winslow Warren, President General ; Charles Isham, Treasurer General ; Asa Bird 

Gardiner, Secretary General. 

Society of Colonial Wars 
Samuel Howland Hoppin, Rev. Dr. Howard Duffleld, Dr. Edward Lasell Partridge, 
J. Wray Cleveland, Thatcher T. P. Luquer, Dr. Theodoras Bailey. 

Society of Mayflower Descendants 

Frederick Chandler Seabury, Russell Benedict, Dr. Douglas Smith, Benjamin Treadwell 

van Nostrand, Chandler Smith. 

Society of the War of 1812 
Louis Hay Dos Passos, Clarence H. Eagle, Frank E. Davidson. 

Society of the United States Daughters 
Mrs. George B. Wallis, Mrs. Homer Lee, Mrs. B. L. Whitney, Mrs. W. L. Mann. 

Sons of the Revolution 
James Mortimer Montgomery, Robert Olyphant, Arthur Melvin Hatch. 



Stolen Island Chamber of Commerce 
Howard R. Bayne, J. P. Pearson, Cornelius G. Kolff. 

The American Irish Historical Society 
Joseph I. C. Clarke, Edward H. Daly, John J. Lenehan. 

The Old Guard 

Col. Ardolph L. Kline, Capt. A. P. Vredenburgh, Capt. Charles D. Bemheimer 

Capt. W. Grant Cook, Capt. John Deemer, Capt. Thomas A. Keller. 

Veteran Corps of Artillery 
Major Charles Elliot Warren, Major Walter Lispenard Suydam, First Lieut. Paul 
Gilbert Thebaud, First Lieut. Benjamin Rush Lummis. 



The report of the Special Committee was accepted, and the 
resolution therein recommended was adopted at a meeting of the 
Board of Aldermen held July 6, 1915. 



